Andystoy19

We are going to give you the nick name of the "continuous improvement man", I hope Canam are keeping track of your projects. Thanks😊

I haven't used my machine in freezing temperatures yet but I now know what to look for if I start getting a drip inside, condensation freezing on an uninsulated surface wouldn't be unusual but unexpected for sure?😉

No lemon laws in Canada but you could contact BRP care and ask them to open a file on your machine, I am not sure of the exact email address but I now they monitor the skidoo website and have reached out to owners with problems?🤔

I would start looking for the info on the Can am site, they have an accessory catalogue for the Defender series. If you can find the part numbers that should confirm whether they are the same? I suspect that the door openings will be the same but have not looked into it myself. The 6x6 looks like the same machine up front with an addition to the frame and box etc. at the back????🤔

Hi Ike, I think there is am explanation for the whole process in my thread under Defender builds, you can keep all your wiring up top and put the switch in the roof panel, last post has a picture of what that looks like, good luck with the project.😉

Good work, thanks for the update.😉

Good news thanks for the update.

I used my Defender XT this fall to recover the dock at the lake. We have a fairly steep trail that we use to bring the dock (on wheels) up the bank and to the area that we store it. We have 15 or more sections plus two wheeled lifts that we need to bring in. After the first couple of sections are brought in the hill becomes slimy and slippery so the Defender cannot get enough traction to pull the load up the hill backwards or forwards. I decided to use the front winch to pull the next section in after I found a spot where the Defender would not slide; this was on a fairly steep slope so when I put the Defender in Park, I was concerned about it jumping out of gear and running down the hill hurting someone or damaging something. When I got back in it was very difficult to get the gearbox out of Park as the weight of the vehicle (rolling weight) was now being held by the Park gear and it required quite a forceful jerk to get it to disengage possibly creating damage to the park gear and or the cable shift linkage. After this I stayed in the vehicle and had someone else run the winch line and make adjustments to the pull line etc. until we finished the job. The canam decision to provide a UTV this size without a secondary brake system is completely unacceptable. Going back to quads, tractors, late 50 and early 60's cars they all had a park brake on automatic transmission vehicles. Since Canam has a secondary brake system on the 2020 models I would suggest that they offer a retrofit to all the older models at cost or as a recall. I realize that this is wishful thinking on my part but I can't see how they built and released a UTV in modern times without a secondary brake system. End of rant. After thinking about possible solutions that I could use on my machine I remembered that we had a similar device that we used on our 1953 International truck to hold the clutch in while the engine was warming up in really cold weather (-40). As a result I came up with my version of the secondary brake system which will hold brake pressure for as long as you want. I put it in place on the depressed brake pedal and it stays there. I won't provide any more detail on it because of a potential liability situation if someone used it incorrectly and had a runaway. If I could come up with a work around for this deficient design by Canam I am sure they could as well, I made mine from scrap lumber, and now you know the rest of the story.😈

You have certainly done a great job on adding electronics but have you measured your total load on the system when your lights start to flash? The fact that you are not blowing any fuses tells me that no one circuit is over loaded. The magneto on these units is 650 watts and since this is a 12 volt system that equates to 54 Amps at 4000 RPM and above. Below 4000 RPM and back to idle there will be less amps available to charge your system. There will be about 50 Amps available if the battery is fully charged which indicates that about 5 amps is used to keep your engine running. Ignition system, (fuel pump, dash and display etc.) but only at 4000 RPM or above. Your DPS (dynamic power steering) also uses amperage to provide steering assist. It is on a 40 amp fuse and could draw up to 60 amp instantaneously when you peg the steering against the stop. During normal road crusiing it will use very little amps but this load still has to come from the battery or the magneto. The heater motor will also draw amps depending upon the speed setting etc? If you have a clamp meter clamp it over the positive battery cable and try and take some readings while adding load by turning on more electronics. If your load approaches or exceeds 40 amps you are heading into the area where the magneto can not provide enough currant to power the accessories, the house load and charge the battery. If you don't have a clamp meter or a volt meter that can measure amps to each circuit, use your volt meter to monitor the voltage at the battery(s) to see where it drops to. For example with no load at 4000 RPM you could read 14.4 volts but this number will likely be lower with more load and reduced RPM. If at full load you read 13 volts or less than you do not have sufficient load to charge the battery and have just enough amps to power your total load. Adding a larger battery like and odyssey PC585? will increase your reserve but not solve your total load issue although it will provide currant longer before you discharge it. If you have the original 30 Amp battery and have added an auxilliary 30 Amp battery you should have sufficient reserve already? You did not mention that your batteries were discharging so it tends to point to the problem as too much load on one circuit. If you can run your volt meter on the circuit that starts to blink and see if the voltage drops below 12.5 volts, if yes your electronics may be over heating because the voltage is too low.(Some electronics do not tolerate low voltage, they overheat). One of the solutions might be to reduce the load on that circuit by putting it elsewhere and see if the problem is solved? Another way to check this circuit would be to turn on the stereo by itself and see if it runs normally or starts to blink? If possible carefully touch the wire from the power source that feeds this circuit, if it is hot you are carrying too much currant for the wire size? I hope my verbage has not confused the issue but provided you some ideas to check out and find the problem?🤔

Here is a pic of the two switches in the overhead panel. They illuminate just like all the other switches on the dash when you turn the key to accessory or on.

This high tech device is necessary to operate my CDN$30K plus machine. I took the photo on the embossed tailgate so that you could get an idea of its length. There is also an embossed tape measure on the removable glove box, small increments are 1/4". This is a fun question so fire away.😉

That would be next CPS is a possibility let us know what you find?🤔

The superwinch and several other brand names including Warn are probably made in China or a nearby country so reliability will be similar. I called the dealer and the salesman thought the remote plug was under the hood but didn't have one inside to make sure. Did you see a round plastic plug in the top left if yes pull the cap off to expose the female end. Enjoy the new machine. 😉

Try removing a spark plug wire to check for spark if there is spark replace cap and depress accelerator and crank engine to clear possible flooding return accelerator to idle and crank engine if no start plan B. Remove both plugs and check to see if they are wet and smell like gasoline if yes replace plugs. Stand on the brake pedal when cranking the engine just in case, but the starter shouldn't engage if this signal was missing. Check the fuses f5 and f6 in the fuse box next to the battery. Start by checking the fuses first and wiggle the connectionsto see if any are loose? Good luck.🤔

The cable shifter may need to be adjusted slightly so that the shifter on the transmission is at the right place when your dashboard shifter is in R detente. If this happens again hold the shifter away from the detente and move it back and forth to see where it actually engages reverse. The procedure for shifter cable adjustment is to center the shifter arm in N in the detente by loosening and adjusting the adjustment nuts at the engine end of the cable until the shifter centers correctly. After that move the shifter to R and H and back to N to see if the adjustment is correct. Check all positions including P to see if they work as indicated. Don't forget to lock the cable nuts to prevent movement when finished. If this is too complicated have the dealer do it, this is what he should of checked instead of trying to replicate the problem. Fyi. 🤔

If you are interested in this bracket, check the bolt pattern of your winch to make sure it fits the one he shows for the winch plate. (4500 lb winch is larger than the 2500 lb. I have on the G2)🤔

I have the Iron Baltic G2 rear winch bracket on my Outlander XT1000, well built and fits nicely, got it in about a week. 😉

I have the canam removable receiver winch kit as shown in the build section it allows you to remove it in a couple of minutes and comes with the electrical plugs to attach and remove the 4500 lb. winch. When I get around to it I intend to cut the plate off and mount it on top of the receiver and slightly forward to reduce the chance of hanging up in the deep stuff. You could space the winch plate up using square tubing if you want and use an extension if you want to use the hitch. I have not seen a bracket for the defender. 🤔

Hi: Sorry no pics the accessory panel is covered by a cover that you pull off towards yourself. If you have a voltmeter it will help you with the wiring. There are 3 bolts looking at you the closest to the windshield was the ground terminal and the other two are keyed red or positive. When you buy your switches check and see if the package contains a wiring diagram, if not in general terms there are 3 lugs in a row (on the left and one or two on the right) top was negative, center was power and bottom went to the light, it became common to the center one with the switch on. On the Canam switch the top two had to be tied together for the switch light to come on and the on light came on when the switch powered the led(the bottom two were tied together). The center power comes from one of the red wires on the accessory panel, the ground from the 1st wire on the panel (look at the color of the wires on the accessory) to help you determine the polarity. Crimp round ends of the correct size to fit the bolt on the accessory panel and slip on terminals that fit the switch. My second switch was different so that is why I didn't include a picure as it would be confusing. Once tested and everything works push the protective cover back over the accessory panel to prevent accidental contact by other wires and secure the black front piece with 8 torx bolts. FYI good luck with your project.😉

To remove the liner remove the two torx bolts in the back corners of the cab, one on each side and the two at mid point along with the two screws that hold up the dome light, gently ease the back of the liner down, it pulls out of the black PVC front piece (rests on the black piece) and remove the two wires to the dome light once the liner is down far enough to see the connections. You can also remove the eight torx bolts in the black front piece and take that down first if you are going to install extra wiring etc. The black front piece has two switch pull outs that you can remove and install your front and rear light bar switches in the blank holes, make sure you buy the right size rocker switches that fit these cut outs. Looking up you will see the existing wiring harness that brings in the power from the under dash accessory panel dash up inside the drivers side front post and across the front of the cab to the roof accessory panel located in the center. From this panel you have wiring and a switch to control the wiper and window wash pump. Another wire loom runs down the center of the cab, past the dome light and splits into a T one side going to each door with a plug that can disconnects the power window in each door. The fuse for this whole system is located under the front hood and looks like a plug, top left it is a 40 Amp fuse. I mounted my rear LED Evergear 7" Dual row light bar 4 spot and 8 flood LED (Cree) 2000 lumens no wattage rating. I suspect that the LED are 1.5 Osram 12x1.5=18 watts amp draw 1.5 Amp fused with a 3 Amp fuse. I drilled holes for the 2 mounting bolts and the wire feed through the PVC cab at the rear; mounting the light below the roof line. The inside bolts are double washered 1/4" and 5/8" flat washers to increase the area contacting the plastic to avoid cracking of the roof? The 14 guage wires run in a loom taped to the previous loomed wiring harness to the front of the cab where they attach to the accessory panel and the rocker switch. Make sure you allow about a foot of wire from the accessory panel to the rocker switch so you can install the wiring to the switch. The switches fit from the bottom of the panel so you need to be able to see over top of the suspended panel for installation. The rear LED illuminates the box, area on the sides and quite a ways back. The front light bar is an Evergear 22" Dual row bar with 24 spot and 16 flood Cree 3 LED rated at 3 w and 120 watts for the bar fused on a 10 Amp fuse. 7200 effective lumens and 426 m of beam distance. The front bar is mounted between the hinges and above the window wiper but just below the roof line. I drilled two holes through the plastic roof and right through the metal front panel for the cab. I built 2 spacers out of washers and hard rubber about 5/8" tall and pushed the spacer under the plastic roof and between the metal cab roof. These are built to prevent the plastic roof from flexing and cracking in the cold and provide a solid steel mounting point for the brackets of the light. I did not drill a hole for the wiring because there is a rubber seal that runs across the front of the cab. Gently lift the seal with a screw driver, slide the wires outside and drop the seal. Connect and tape the connection outside and pull back the connection under the plastic roof to keep it out of the weather. Loom the 14 guage wires and bring across the front of the cab to the accessory panel and the rocker switches. I installed a 10 Amp fuse between the accessory panel and the rocker switch. Assemble the wiring to the switches before you put the switches in the panel for ease of measurement etc and testing the circuit, mark your terminals and the wires for reinstallation once you install the rocker switches in the overhead panel. Reinstall the front panel first and reinstall the roof liner by connecting the dome wires first, slip the front of the liner in the space above the front roof panel and gently work the liner into position securing the back corner bolts first, followed by the mid point and dome lights. Looks factory and clean all that you have to do is align and set your lights. Caution: My lights added 13 Amps to the load on the 40 Amp fuse, the front wiper uses about 5 A not sure how much each power window uses as well as the washer pump. All of these items are powered by the 40 Amp fuse so if you plan on adding a bunch more accessories like a 50" light bar, stereo etc. you may overload this circuit. Hint: Fuse each accessory separately so that if one of them goes bad it blows a small fuse not the 40 Amp fuse. FYI😊

Nice set up, I run 4 Vbar chains on the Outlander 1000 for the deeper snow after christmas but you may get away with the rear set only if your lakes don't drift too deep next to shore. If you find that you are dragging you can get an extra inch of height by adjusting your springs to max on the cams, it still gives the machine a good ride at that setting. You might also need a winter front for the radiator either the pricey one from Canam or a piece of cardboard as discussed in the builds section.😉

Nice but with that much tire you will probably need a clutch kit, Dalton makes one DBMT 1000-2 for the larger tires; if you get one let us know how it works?😉 If you add the portals you will have reduced gearing but may still need a clutch kit for good performance?

Too bad Canam haven't followed the lead of Skidoo where you can spring check a sled with the options you want and they build it for you. I agree that they should build the Smartlok option into more of the line up and see what they get for sales; they might be surprised at the demand for it, rather than deciding that the XMR is the only machine that needs it?🤔

So far okay, I haven't done too much of the muskeg riding but I will look at the DBMT 1000-2 (Dalton kit) next spring and a ECM tune just because I need to have a project to work on. I will do some ice fishing this winter just to see how the big tires do in the deep snow if not well than I will have to switch to the SummitX 850 165 x 3.😉

I checked the shop manual for the defender series and no chain, I believe the XMR uses the same gearbox with a lower gear ratio in low range because of the larger tires? This manual doesn't include the XMR?🤔